Market Maker’s members were all crazy in their own unique way, but there was one commonality among them, and that’s the fact that they need to chill the fuck out
Still thinking about that one time they mentioned MM members had cover jobs. Like you’re a regular Cremonian citizen and decide to walk into a bakery... and fucking Izanami with no makeup asks you if you’re paying with cash or credit. And considering the twins’ (probable) age, they’re supposed to go to school. Sometimes they need to beg Kamui to do today’s assassination in their stead because they have homework to do.
BTB’s lore is hard to keep in mind so here’s a comprehensive list under the cut. Obviously, this contains every possible spoiler. This is a description of parties at play, concepts and past events (I’m not summarizing the anime’s plot in its entirety) so it’s by no means exhaustive. I’ll make more posts later with details on the characters themselves. There’s a lot more even than what I wrote here, so if you have a question about anything (even plot-related), send me an ask and there’s a chance I’ll know.
Contents:
Setting
RIS
Killer B
Jaula Blanca
Story of the Attack on Jaula Blanca
Restored Gods
Reggies
Market Maker
The Jetblack Epitaph Prophecy
Scientific Details
Erika Flick’s Death and the Dead Kyle Saga
Setting
The anime is set in a monarchy (more precisely a government led by a king) called Cremona
It’s an archipelago made up of several islands:
Most of the plot seems to happen on one of the bigger island complex on the right, but smaller ones are visited by characters in various instances too (for example Morta Island [not noted on the map] and Hols Island)
The anime is set in a timeline that deviates from ours around the 16th century but our culture and history exists in this universe up to that point (the Bible and Germany are mentioned)
The MCs seem to live in the capital city
Police and military are under the king’s supervision, as well as Market Maker
RIS (Royal Investigative Services)
Investigative division of the Royal Police
Various main characters work at the Coastal Branch (a group among RIS), specifically: Lily, Keith, Kaela, Mario, Brandon, Eric, Boris, Jean and others
This group gets assigned the case of Killer B at the beginning of the story
They’re under government supervision like every other entity
Market Maker has priority over them as an organization; they start secretly surveilling RIS and get granted access to their files by the government
The government also threatens to disband RIS (in the second half of the story) as a consequence of Keith’s disappearance after Jean’s death and RIS’s reluctance in investigating him
Killer B
Koku’s secret identity
Serial killer, his victim count is at 15 at the beginning of the anime
Murders by him are connected by him leaving behind a ‘BIIII’ shaped sign in various forms (written or carved onto surfaces, constructed from objects)
His crimes have two purposes:
Eliminating reggies involved in the Jaula Blanca attack out of revenge
Signalling to Yuna that he’s alive through their special sign (the BIIII symbol)
Story of Jaula Blanca Royal Scientific Institute
13 winged skeletons were discovered at the Jetblack Epitaph [a stone tablet with an encoded inscription on Mount Cremona] in the 16th century
They were initially thought to be gods who were humanity’s progenitors
Scientists began a research project to restore them
The king decided to politically exploit the project
Jaula Blanca was a research institute built with the funds to restore the gods but the scientists were corrupt (and presumably opium addicts)
They created the reggies (then called Promised Ones) through inbreeding (later repeated for centuries), deemed them failed byproducts and disposed of them or locked them up
The research was planned to be terminated
One researcher proposed to the king to create an organization (which would later become Market Maker) to earn money and get enough scientists to proceed with the project
The proposal was accepted
Jaula Blanca survived in order to produce reggies who became intelligence agents for the Royal Government and manipulated war and peace for money
Three cellular biologists arrived from Japan (among whom Heath Kazama Flick) and helped the project reach success
Jaula Blanca produced Koku and Yuna, successfully restored gods, then others based on them (see: the Restored Gods paragraph)
An attack against Jaula Blanca was carried out, destroying it and resulting in the deaths of most children there (see: the Story of the Attack on Jaula Blanca paragraph)
CEO at the time was Albert Puzo
Gilbert’s father
First person his son killed
His approach to research ‘softened’ gradually and got closer to Heath’s (which is why Gilbert killed him)
Story of the Attack on Jaula Blanca
Ideated and led by Gilbert Ross with the assistance of Market Maker reggies
The goal was taking Minatsuki away so Gilbert could keep him alive and manipulate him in order to use his brainwashing ability (see: the Reggies paragraph)
Took form in a sudden bombing and assault at nighttime in the time period when Koku was a child (around 10)
Heath Flick told Kirisame to watch over Koku and take him to a secret shelter, different from the one the other children were sent to
Koku was looking for Yuna instead of escaping
Eventually Heath found Koku before Kirisame could and told him to leave and that he’d find Yuna
At the same time Gilbert convinced Minatsuki to cooperate with him (see: the Jetblack Epitaph Prophecy paragraph)
Yuna was hiding in a classroom where Minatsuki (along with Izanami) found her, lied about being Koku’s brother and convinced her to come with him
Minatsuki, Izanami, Heath and Gilbert (followed by reggie soldiers) all met in the same place, where Minatsuki stabbed Heath
Gilbert left and took Minatsuki, Izanami, Yuna and Phantom Minatsuki (who had just been brainwashed by Minatsuki) with himself
Kirisame and Koku arrived at the secret shelter but were attacked by reggies
In order to protect Koku, Kirisame and some of the other restored gods sacrificed their lives
Koku went back to look for Yuna but only found their symbol on the blackboard, meaning that she had already been taken away
He found the mortally wounded Heath who gave him some pages of his notebook containing information about the gods and revealed that he could integrate the other gods’ body parts in his body (see: the Restored Gods paragraph)
Koku went back to his companions’ bodies and attached their body parts to himself
The Restored Gods
Successful experiment products from after Heath Flick’s arrival at Jaula Blanca
Actual reincarnations of the 13 winged skeletons
They were given numbers from 1 to 13
Have special body parts that can be transformed into steel called lohengrin
Koku and Yuna were created first and the others were based on them
Koku was number XIII
Resurrected Black-winged King
The gods’ appointed leader
His original special body part was his eyes (the right one was transplanted into Minatsuki; see: the Reggies paragraph) with memory manipulation and brainwashing abilities
Physically weaker than the others
Yuna was the chosen shrine maiden, number IV (written as IIII in Jaula Blanca)
Izanami was the other shrine maiden, number V
Numbers I, II and III were integrated in Koku’s body after the attack
The other gods beside him were also called Koku’s guardians and had the duty to protect him
When significant events mentioned on the Jetblack Epitaph are about to take place, Koku and Yuna undergo silver nuptial coloration which turns their hair a white-ish colour
Reggies
Short for Regulus Ginedrive Immoral Egersis
Produced by Jaula Blanca
Regarded as failed byproducts of the research to restore the gods by scientists
Reincarnations of a species of ancient demihumans created for fighting (not to be confused with the 13 restored gods)
They become unstable at age 20 with increasing murderous urges and loss of rational thought
Their weakness is blue steel, if it penetrates a part of their body it needs to be cut off and the blue steel has to be extracted (this was written in Heath’s notebook; both Koku and Keith knew about it)
The government uses them as intelligence agents (Market Maker members) and releases them into society as soon as they become uncontrollable
Having them unstable is profitable for the government as they would otherwise become too strong and leak the conspiracy behind the Jaula Blanca funds
Can remain humane for longer with the gold solution (see: the Scientific Details paragraph)
Their mental deterioration can be classified in grades (Keith rates Dead Kyle a grade-C)
The only reggie stabilized through treatment at Jaula Blanca was Minatsuki
Showed no signs of rejecting Koku’s right eye, which was transplanted into him
Could have been a dangerous military force and a basis for a vaccine to stabilize reggies so the government wanted him dead
Kept locked-up and hidden
Memory manipulation and brainwashing abilities like Koku’s
Was manipulated by Gilbert during the attack
Market Maker
Government group of intelligence agents who manipulate war and peace
Made entirely of reggies (see: the Reggies paragraph)
Main villains (Phantom Minatsuki, Laica/Real Minatsuki, Yuna, Izanami, Kamui, Kukuri, Takeru, Quinn, rabbit boy) are part of a special branch responsible for social disorder
Specialize in orchestrated crimes and wars, assassination, sabotage and infiltration
They utilize brainwashing (through Minatsuki’s eye)
Headquarters on the Moby Dick [a huge, white airship built during the war]
Members have a skull tattoo on their hand (which they usually cover up with gloves)
Involved in many gold thefts to acquire materials for the gold solution
Led by the real Minatsuki (who goes by ‘Laica’)
Want to capture Koku (Minatsuki’s personal goal)
Cooperating with Gilbert in covering up his crimes by brainwashing reggies into confessing to them, but not dependent on him
Privileged by the government over other entities
The Jetblack Epitaph Prophecy
Jetblack Epitaph: stone tablet on Mount Cremona with a codified inscription
Contains as much information as the Bible
Meaning changes according to combination and reading direction
Decoded by 12-year-old Keith Flick
Similies and metaphors
Uses ‘black’ as a synonym for ‘perfect’
Cremona’s first king defeated the original Black-winged King at the Jetblack Epitaph
Prevents Koku’s regenerative ability
Transcribed passages:
When Canopus shines bright, to the right is a new First, illegitimate spawns of the gods. Wings of pure madness will bring low the ephemeral people, and the howls of the dead will bring order to their brethren.
To the left, another Fourth. A cycle of evil slaughter. The moon of carnage traces out its eternal ellipse, and the hour the ash-colored dragon beats its wings will come at last. People of the black bones, gather ye together.
The Tale of the Two Shrine Maidens [the only unambiguous passage]: On the night of the 13th full moon the man chosen by the two shrine maidens gained power, companions and wings, and became the black-winged king. Their purpose fulfilled, the two maidens presented to him a blade that burned blue. “Decapitate one of us,” they said. The maiden whose head was cut off turned to ash and merged with the king, granting him still another power. The remaining maiden became his wife and fought at his side at Cremona’s summit, and shared his fate when the end came.
Gilbert convinced Minatsuki (when he was a kid) that if he killed Koku at the Jetblack Epitaph he would become an invincible king, a lie Minatsuki kept believing in as an adult
Scientific Details
Genetic information to revive the 13 gods comes from the Jetblack Epitaph deciphered by Keith
Inscription contains info about the form and abilities of the gods’ bones
At their 20th birthday, the reggies’ testosterone and dopamine levels get skewed (presumably high T and low dopa)
Gold solution:
Adjusts reggies’ hormonal levels
Requires actual gold to be made
Acts as a drug (probably due to being a dopamine agonist)
Withdrawal symptoms: bleeding from the eyes, mouth and nose; memory issues; increased aggressiveness; physical weakness
Can be taken orally or intravenously
Blue steel is some sort of oxidized form of steel and can be created from normal steel through heating
Erika Flick’s Death and the Dead Kyle Saga
Erika Flick
Keith’s adoptive sister
Similar to Lily physically and in character
Fell in love with a man she (in Gilbert’s opinion) shouldn’t have [implied to be Keith but never explicitly stated]
Gilbert was in love with her
Went to university with both of them
Killed by Gilbert
Dead Kyle
Nicknamed ‘Raven-haired Murder Machine’
Serial killer
Reggie
Participated in the Jaula Blanca attack
His adoptive father was a navy man and got him admitted to Ramon Psychiatric Hospital [in the Ramon Ports & Harbor District closed military area; full of reggies, Gilbert operates here too]
The one Erika’s murder was pinned on
8 years before the anime’s timeline Erika’s body was found cut-up and dumped in the mountains
Gilbert murdered her in (what appears to be) a fit of jealousy
Dead Kyle confessed (in a trial that was mostly for show) to being Erika’s killer, confirmed the murder’s location and the weapon, and passed the polygraph because of Minatsuki’s brainwashing at Gilbert’s request
Keith suspected Dead Kyle to be lying from this murder being different than his previous ones
Dead Kyle was hospitalized at Ramon Psychiatric Hospital
Eric and his team were planning to kidnap him to expose more covered-up crimes
Keith abducted him from the hospital and tortured him without authorization so Eric was forced to arrest him (which is why he was sent to the Archives Division for 7 years)
Dead Kyle escaped and was killed by Killer B (Koku) just before committing another crime
Gilbert proposed to stitch Erika’s body back together and leaked that the corpse had cedar and pine pollen on it, in order to reveal the murder’s location to Keith for his later plans
Next post will be about details on RIS members and generally people related to Keith’s side of the story; the one afterwards about restored gods and reggies. I also have a few screencaps to transcribe and theories about background events. Don’t hesitate to ask me about anything that is still unclear or correct me if I made a mistake/typo. This post might undergo updates.
It seems like everyone in Market Maker has this little scar under their tattoos and in case someone was wondering;
They're scars from a microchip implant.
Here's where they usually put it:
Normally they would cut on the other side of the hand to insert it or a bit more upwards, but I guess they didn't wanna ruin the tattoos too much.
This would grant Market Maker access to specific doors, card readers, etc. but wouldn't make them trackable by default since GPS devices (+battery) aren't small enough yet to be implanted.
